Breaking News

Close

Kim Dotcom more popular than John Banks - poll

Thursday 11 Oct 2012 12:10 p.m.

John Banks and Kim Dotcom

New Zealanders are fairly evenly divided in their opinion of internet millionaire Kim Dotcom but they hold him in higher regard than his former beneficiary, ACT leader John Banks, according to a new survey.

UMR Research's Omnibus survey released on Thursday shows 38 percent of New Zealanders have favourable opinions of Dotcom, while 36 percent view him unfavourably, 24 percent have no opinion of him and two percent claim never to have heard of him.

Just 14 percent of New Zealanders view Mr Banks favourably, with 71 percent viewing him unfavourably. Thirteen percent are unsure and two percent again say they have never heard of him.

"Dotcom is clearly more popular than Banks even in Banks' home area of Auckland," UMR said in a statement.

"Forty-three percent of Aucklanders have favourable opinions of Kim Dotcom, while 17 percent of Aucklanders view John Banks favourably."

Dotcom, who is opposing extradition to the United States to face internet piracy and money laundering charges, made a $50,000 donation to Mr Banks' Auckland mayoral campaign in 2010 - which Mr Banks declared as anonymous in his campaign returns.

But their relationship soured earlier this year when Mr Banks said he could not recall the donation and that he hardly knew Dotcom.

The survey of 750 New Zealand adults was conducted from September 27 to October 2. NZN